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The Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has urged government to reduce fuel prices without further delay. In a statement issued on Monday in Accra, the GTUC noted that it will hold series of labour meetings in all the 10 regions of the country today to seek the views of workers on government�s decision to withdraw subsidies on petroleum products. Noting that the withdrawal has led to the astronomical increases in fuel prices, it said �these meetings will inform the way forward.� It pointed out that �the conditions that necessitated the introduction of subsidies by previous governments are still valid and that it is still necessary for government to continue with the subsidization of petroleum products. �The TUC did not and cannot sympathise with government on the fuel price increases. We cannot sympathise with government for choosing to follow the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in taking such major decision regarding fuel price determination in Ghana. Rather we sympathise with Ghanaian workers and their families and the people of Ghana, generally, for the harsh economic and social realities they are confronted with.� It also stated that it has seen two publications carried by the Daily Graphic on Saturday, January 14, 2012 and Monday, January 16, 2012, under the caption: �Govt to reduce hardship of workers.� �The two publications sought to give the impression that the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), together with the other stakeholders, sympathise with government �on the current increases in the world price of fuel and the huge sums the government used in subsidising the product and also that we �encouraged the government to do more in cushioning workers against the economic situation in the country.� Condemning the publications, GTUC said its meeting with government�s Economic Management Team (EMT) at the Castle, Osu on January 13, this year, chaired by Vice President John Dramani Mahama touched on the recent increase in prices of fuel products, the high cost of borrowing, measures to raise revenues and on the general economic situation in the country, but it never expressed those sentiments. It noted that the meeting offered the TUC the opportunity to re-state its position on the increase in fuel prices which is the result of government�s decision to withdraw subsidies on petroleum products. �This position is informed by the fact that fuel price increases of the magnitude observed in 2011 have spill-over effects on prices of a wide range of goods and services with special reference to food which constitutes over 70 percent of total expenditure for the vast majority of Ghanaians who earn very low incomes. Subsidies help to mitigate the effects of fuel price increases on the most vulnerable section of the society. It noted that the EMT mentioned what was essentially a wish-list of measures government intended to take to cushion workers against the effects of the fuel price increases. Among these measures were the early payment of salaries for January, 2012, the payment of the outstanding salary arrears to public sector workers by June 2012 and the importation of more buses to improve public transport. But GTUC said it told the EMT that it was not impressed by such measures. �In our view, these measures were inadequate in addressing the hardships the fuel price increase has imposed on Ghanaians. We find it unfair and insensitive on the part of government when it asks Ghanaians to continue to bear the harsh economic realities brought about by these steep increases as it prepares to import �more buses�. �Why didn�t government bring in the buses before announcing the increases? As for the directive for the early payment of salaries for January the least said about it the better. How would early payment of the already low salary in the public sector mitigate the economy-wide effects of fuel price increase?�